Carrie Patterson

Executive Director

About

Carrie Patterson serves as the Executive Director of MindUP™ | The Goldie Hawn Foundation. MindUP™ | The Goldie Hawn Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded to help children develop the knowledge and tools they need to manage stress, regulate emotions, and face the challenges of the 21st century with optimism, resilience and compassion.

Carrie leads the organization alongside the Founder & CEO in the areas of strategic planning, digital transformation, online training, fundraising, partnerships, and the operations of the organization.

Carrie has a long and extensive career specializing in non-profit and youth development organizations including the Director of Operations at the Tim Horton’s Children Foundation where she worked to provide over 18,000 kids each year with a positive and long-lasting camp experience. Carrie has brought her proven leadership, a strong track record of advocacy for children and youth around the world and strong business sense to her new role at MindUP™.

Carrie’s diverse experience with youth also includes serving on the Board of Directors for several non-profit organizations. Carrie is currently completing her MBA and was named one of Toronto’s Top 50 Women Leaders of 2022.

“With my hand on my heart, I can truly say MindUP has transformed and changed the climate of our school. MindUP is not just a program but a way of being.”

Sam Goodlad, Principal, Australia

“Real world, every day experiences helped students understand the difference between mindful and unmindful. Examples like holding the door for someone at Wawa got students thinking about times they have experienced people being unmindful or they have been unmindful themselves.”

Eighth Grade Teacher

“My fourth grade class loved the mindful smelling activities! We took the opportunity to share connections we have made to places or experiences from simple scents. Many of the kids shared smells from their grandparents’ houses, seasonal activities, etc. I was impressed with the dialogue that took place after the ‘secret smelling’ activity that we did!”

Fourth Grade Teacher

“I think the lessons have been going super! The kids are using the brain language and understanding the function of the three parts. For example, we talk about calming our amygdala after lunch and recess. I have heard them using the terms in their everyday talk. So far it is going really great. I don’t have anything that hasn’t worked yet.”

Kindergarten Teacher

“MindUp provides consistent and ongoing opportunities for students to practice their social emotional learning skills. As a CASEL SELect program it has extensive research to back its effectiveness.”

Jane Tasker

“Social emotional learning is as important for students as academic learning. The MindUP Curriculum beautifully combines both by teaching our students about their brains while they learn important skills that create joyful and harmonious classrooms.”

Rita D. Perez

“One of my pupils was suffering from depression. He’d never has a friend due to some language processing problems. During the gratitude practice, he heard how important he was to other boys in the class. The difference was extraordinary, and his parents say he is so much happier and now has children come over to play.”

Barbara K

“An unexpected outcome of the application of the MindUP curriculum is the impact on the well-being of our staff. Through planning and application of the MindUp lessons in their classroom, staff have found a positive impact on themselves personally. It is as if MindUP has an adult SEL outcome through use. Staff are better able to bring their best self to the classroom and home each day. ”

Assistant Superintendant